Christian unity [microform] : a sermon preached in St. Giles's Church, Edinburgh, July 3, 1877, at the opening of the first General Presbyterian Council

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CHRISTIAN UNI T Y.

A SERMON

PREACHED IN ST. GILES'S CHURCH, EDINBURGH,
JULY 3, 1877,

AT THE OPENING

OF THE FIRST

GENERAL PRESBYTERIAN COUNCIL,

by:

ROBERT FLINT, D.D., LL.D.,

VROFESSOR OF DIVINITY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH.

Published b^ Request of the Councili

MONTREAL!
A, A. STEVENSON, PRINTER, 245 ST, JAMES STREET.

1878,

PREFATORY NOTE

BY THE AUTHOR,

The circumstances in which this Discourse was preached may give it to
many an interest to which it is not entitled by any merits of its own. It formed
a part of the religious exercises at the opening of the proceedings of a Council
composed of delegates representing the whole family of the Presbyterian
Churches throughout the world.

The author has been honoured by the Council with a request to publish his
Discourse. The request, he need scarcely say, cannot be reasonably supposed
to commit the members of the Council to an approval of all the particular state-
ments contained in the Discourse. He feels confident, however, of being at one
with all his brethren in the desire .that not only may the Presbyterian
Churches be drawn more closely together, but that all who are united to Christ
by faith may become more united to one another in love.

Edinburgh^ yuly, 1877.

Note. — It was intended to have published this Sermon in the Presbyterian
Record some months ago. The limited space of that Magazine, however, pre-
venting, the publishing Committee have taken this method of furnishing the
Ministers of Tue Presbyterian Church in Canada with a copy of this Dis-
course, which, apart from its intrinsic value, has attached to it a historic interest
by reason of the great occasion on which it was preached.

Montreal, July, J8y8,

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" Neither pray I for these alone, but for them
also which shall believe on Me through their
word ; that they may be one ; as Thou, Father, art
in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in
Us ; that the world may belieTe that Thou hast sent
Me."-JoHtr. xvii. 20. 21.

fHESE words contain truths and sug-
gest reflections which are manifestly
apropriate in the circumstances in which
we are met. Any remarks which may
help you to enter into the spirit and
meaning of them cannot be other than sea-
sonable. Let Christ himself, therefore, be
our teacher ; let the speaker merely repeat
what he taught : and may the Holy
Spirit guide both speakers and hearers to
a right understanding and a hearty recep-
tion of what he taught ; and may the truth
thus understood and received be profitable
unto us for doctrine, for reproof, for cor-
' rection, for instruction in righteousness.
The circumstances in which the words
of the text were first spoken could not have
been more fitted than they were deeply to
impress the truth in them on all Christian
hearts and consciences, throughout all
lands and ages. When our Lord breathed
them forth in prayer, He had just institut-
ed the ordinance which was to commemo-
rate, until He come again. His own death.
He had immediately before His view the
cup which His Father had prepared for
Him to drink, the agony of Gethsemane,
the sufferings and the shame of Cavalry ;
yet with Divine unselfishness his thoughts
were occupied about others, and His affec-
tions were going forth towards others. He
was doing what he could to comfort, to en-
courage, to enlighten the few sorrowful,
perplexed, disheartened men who were be-
side Him, and whom He was so soon
to leave. But Hie care and His love
were not confined to them, or to the
small number of persons scattered through

Judea who had trusted that He would re-
deem Israel, and whose affections were still
not wholly withdrawn from Him, although
their hopes were overclouded or extin-
guished. He knew that the doubts add
fears of His disciples were, as far as they
regarded Himself, altogether vain. He
knew whence He came into the world, and
why He came — who sent Him, and for
what He was sent ; that His work was one
which could not fail ; that the Father
would glorify the Son, that the Son might
glorify the Father ; that the Father had
given him power over all flesh ; that He
should give eternal life to a mighty people
gathered out of all the nations of the earth.
He knew that the honour of God and the
salvation of men were alike dependent on
the success of what He had undertaken.
He looked, therefore, beyond the apparent
defeats and passing sorrows of the present,
and beyond the sufferings of the imme-
diately impending future, and He saw that
despised Gospel which He was about to
seal with His blood, spreading beyond
Judea, beyond the farthest bounds of Roman
rule, over lands whose names His contem-
poraries knew not. He saw that it
was to outlive empires, the foundations
of which had not then been laid — to des-
troy whatever was opposed to it — to pass
through the strangest vicissitudes of
thought, as gold through the fire — to dif-
fuse light and life through all the coming
ages. He saw it gaining to God and to
Himself the countless multitudes of the re-
deemed ; and His loving heart embraced
them all, and out of the fUlness of His
heart He prayed for them all ; and His
prayer was "that they all might be one."
In praying thus, He asked, we may be
sure, the very best thing for them which
he could. He had already on that memor-
able night bequeathed to His followers His

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freat gift of peace ; Ha had laid on them
lie new commandment, "Love one an-
other ;" and now he aeked for them what
included both — that unity whif^h could

only be obtained through obedience to His
law of love, and which was inseparable
from such peace as He had to bestow.

But that we may know the worth of
what He asked on our behalf, we must
know what it really was. Its nature has
often been grievously, misunderstood, and
the consequences have been most lament-
able. In every sphere of thought and life
there is a serious danger of taking a false
unity for the true. The aim of all philo-
sophy, for example, is to reach a true in-
tellectual unity, and the love of unity is its
very source and life : yet it has also been
the chief cause of its errors ; and all false
systems of speculation, like materialism
and idealism, positivism and pantheism,
are simply systems based on false unities
— on narrow and exclusive unities. There
is a unity of political life which is rich in
blessings ; and there are caricatures of that
unity which have only originated cruel
and perfidious acts, foolish and unjust
measures. But nowhere have erroneous
views as to the nature of unity been so
mischievous as in the province of religion.
In the name of Christian unity men have
been asked to sacrifice the most sacred
rights of reason, conscience, and affection.
Independence of judgment, honesty, bro-
therly love, and every quality which gives
to human nature worth and dignity, have
been treated as incompatible with it. In
former days it was thought that Christian
unity could be forced upon men, with vio-
lent and bloody hands ; and in later times
it has often be^m supposed that it could be
promoted by wrathful words and the arts
of worldly intrigue. Throughout the
whole duration of the Church, the unity
which our Saviour prayed that his follow-
ers might enjoy has been widely confound-
ed with kinds of unity which have no ne-
ceseary connection with Christian peace or
love, and which have only proved the oc-
casions of most unchristian discord and
hatred.

What, then, is the unity which Christ
prayed for, when he asked on behalf of His

followers "that they all might be one ?"
Well, this at least it eertainfy is — a unity
of supernatural origin. It has its founda-
tion not on earth but in heaven, not in
man but in God. It is not of this world
nor of the will of the flesh ; it is not a mere
expression of the likeness of human nature
in all men ; it has its root and source in
the eternal nature of God — in the infinite
love wherewith He loved us before the
world was. It supposes a reception of the
word or doctrine of the apostles regarding
Christ, and, consequently, faith in Christ
Himself as the God -man, the brightness of
the glory and the express image of the
person of the Father. It is the natural
and necessary expression of the common
relationship of believing men to the one
God, the one Saviour, and the one Spirit.
There is one faith, one baptism, one hope
on earth, because there is one Father, one
Redeemer, one Sanctifier in heaven.
Unity on earth below is the result of a uni-
fying work accomplished by God who is in
heaven above, through redemption in Jesus
Christ. Sin produced disunion. It sepa-
rated men from God, and '^lea from one an-
other. Christ came to undo the work of
sin, and to bind together more firmly than
ever what it had torn asunder. Through
faith believers are made one with Him ;
through his sacrifice they are made one
with the Father ; through being in the
Father and the Son, they are one among
themselves — one in faith and feeling — in
spirit and life — in their principles and
their sympathies, in their affections and
aspirations.

Such, whatever else it may be,is Christian
unity. But this of itself is sufficient to se-
parate it by a broad and clear boundary,
yea, by an enormous chasm, from a unity
which is in the present day frequently set
forth in opposition to it — the unity pro-
claimed and glorified by positivists,
humanitarians, and socialists— the unity
of mere human brotherhood. This is a
comparatively new enemy of the faith. It
may be said to have entered into general

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history with the French Revolution ; it
owes its very existence to the Christianity
which it is set up to rival. But the signs
of the times seem clearly to indicate that,
under some form or other, or rather that
under many forms, what has been called
the religion of humanity — which is just
the belief in the brotherhood of men sepa-
rated from belief in the fatherhood of God-
fraternity divorced from piety — unity de-
tached from its supernatural root — veill b^
one of the chief enemies which Christian>
ity must contend with. Merely ecclesiaa-
tical questions will probably have far less,
and social questions far more, importance
assigned to them in the estimation of
Christian men in the future than they
have had in the past ; and all Christian
ChurcheH, it is to be hoped, will hence-
forth realise better than they have hitherto
done that their duty is to conquer the
world around them, and transform it into
a part of the kingdom of Chriot — to a anc-
tify society, and to stamp the image of the
Redeemer on all the relatiouH of lite.B vt
in attempting to accomplish this task,
Christian belief will assuredly be resisted
by worldly unbelief; and yet in such a
struggle, the foe of Christianity, to oppose
it with any chance of success, must be
neither wholly worldly nor wholly unbe-
lieving ; it must have some positive truth,
some generous faith, some cause capable
of eliciting enthusiasm. The world will
not be conquered — not generally influenced
and governed — by mere doubts, mere nega-
tions. But where is unbelief to get a truth,
a faith, a motive which will serve its pur-
pose ? I answer that unbelief, although
so fertile in doubts and negations, is so
poor as regards the positive truth which
can alone suj port and ennoble life, that it
must borrow it from the very system
which it seeks to combat, and can have no
other originality than that which it gains
by mutilating the truth which it borrows,
To the Fatherhood of God and the Brother-
hood of Man, it will oppose the latter
alone — to Christian unity, what it will call
a broader, but what is really a narrower
thing, a merely human unity— to the

whole truth, the half truth. And for many
a long day Christian men and Christian
Churches will have no more urgent work
to do than to show by words and deeds, by
teaching and conduct, what is the whole
truth and what is only the half truth ;
that the temple of human brotherhood can
only be solidly founded and firnaly built
up OQ the Eiernal Rock, on whicb rests
Christian faith ; that the world can only
be reconciled to itself by being reconciled
to its God ; that human unity can only be
realised in and through Christian unity.

The unity which Christ asked for Hie
disciples is, I remark next, a unity which
has not only its foundation, but its stand-
ard or model, in heaven. The prayer of
Christ is not only that His people may be
one, but "as Thou, Father, art in Me, and
I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us."
The union of believers not only flows from
the union between the Father and the Son,
who is the Mediator between the Father
and us, but should resemble it as much as
the relationship between finite beings can
resemble that between infinite beings.
The unity which Christ came to produce
on earth was one meant to reflect and ex-
press in a finite form the perfect unity of
the Divine Nature. That unity, ai Chris-
tianity has revealed it, is very different
from the mere abstract unity of speculative
philosophy — the wholly indeterminate
unity of which nothing can be affirmed ex-
cept that it exists ; very different also
from the solitary, loveless, heartless unity
of the God of Mohammedanism. It is a
unity rich in distinctions and perfections ;
the unity of an infinite fulness of life and
love ; the unity of a Godhead in which
there are Father, Son, andH oly Spirit, a
trinity of persons, a diversity of properties,
a variety of offices, a multiplicity of opera-
tions, yet not only sameness of nature and
equality of power and glory, but perfect
oneness also in purpose, counsel, and affec-
tion— perfect harmony of will and work.
It is in this unity, in the contemplation
and fruition of which poets like Dante,
saints like St. Bernard, and divines like
Melancthon, have supposed the highest

6

happiness of the blessed to consist, that we
are to seek the archetype of the unity of
believers on earth.

It is one of the most marked and one of
the grandest characteristics of Christian-
ity, that it continually sets before us the
heavenly, the divine, the perfect, as the
law and rule of our lives. As Moses was
commanded to make the tabernacle for the
children of Israel in all things according
to the pattern shown him in the Mount, so
is the Christian commanded to frame his
conduct in every respect according to the
perfect model of heaven. To be perfect, as
God is perfect— to do our Father's will on
earth, as it is done in heaven — to love one
another as Christ has loved us,— such is
the uniform tenor of the teaching which we
receive from the Gospel ; and eo here our
Saviour's words remind us that we are to
be one, as the Father and the Son are one.
If, as those dream who would found a mere
human brotherhood, heaven were empty, or
wholly inaccessible to our faith — if there
were no Father and no Son, or, at least,
none to be known by us — if there were not
in the Godhead itself an intimate indwel-
ling of person in person, a perfect com-
munion of spirit with spirit, an infinite
love, all- comprehensive, all-pervasive, all-
unitive, — would there be any real and ade-
Ciuate standard assignable to the unity of
men with men, to the love of man for
man? When one who disbelieves in God
and His Son tells his fellow-men to be one,
can he also reasonably and consistently
tell them in what measure or according to
what model they are to be one ? No. He
can find no rule in the history of the past,
stained as that has been with hatreds and
dissensions. He must not be content with
merely pointing to good men, for clearly
the best human lives have been very de-
fective, and in many respects warnings
rather than examples. If he say, **Love
and be at one as far as is for the greatest
good of all," he gives us a problem to cal-
culate instead of an ideal which can at once
elicit and measure, which can at once sus-
tain and regulate love and unity. If he
say, "Love and be at one as you ought,"

he forgets that the very question ia, How
ought we to love and be at one ? Human
unity is a derived and dependent unity, and
its standard can only be the ultimate and
uncreated source of unity— in the indwel-
ling of the Father in the Son, a nd of the
Son in the Father.

The words of our Lord, I remark next,
indicate to us not only the true foundation
and the true standard, but a\ro the true
nature of the unity which he prayed for.
What He asked was that all His followers
might be "one in Us," one in the Father
and in Himself— one in the Father through
belief in Himself, which can only mean
that what He desired was that His follow-
ers might all possess a common life—
mightj all participate in the mind whish
was in Him — might all walk not by sight
but by faith, not after the flesh but accord-
ing to the Spirit — and might all conscious-
ly feel and ouLi^ardly manifest that they
were thus really one. This is, of course, a
kind of unity which embraces all Christ's
followers without any exception. The
Church of Christ, which is the body of
Christ, contains every human being of
whatever kind, or tongue, or nation, who
has that life which is not of this world,
but 'hid with God in Christ ; and it con-
tains only those who have it. Therefore
the Church — the body of Christ — is one.
It is one in itself, because one in it s Lord ;
one*in its many members, because these
members are all united to Him who is the
Head of the Church — the sole head of the
Church. The Headship of Christ and the
unity of the Church are two aspects of the
same truth. Christ is ths Head of the
Church because He is the life of all, the
guide of all, and the Lord of all, who are
within the Church : their life, through the
agency of His Holy Spirit ; their guide,
through the instrumentality of His Word }
and their Lord, through the redemption of
them from sin to His own blessed service.
And just because Christ is thus the sole
Head of the Church, in the plain Scrip,
tural sense of this great doctrine, the
Church itself is one. Without Him it
would have no centre of unity, no coher-

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«Doe of parte, no eattienees of life, no har-
mony of eentimente, no conamonneHa of
purpoee ; while in Him it hae all these.

Has them, I eay, and not merely will
hare them. The unity of the Church ia
not simply a thing to be hoped for, prayed
for, worked for ; it is also a thing which
already exists, and the existence of which
ought to be felt and acted on. Christiana
are certainly far, far indeed, from being
one, as Christ prayed that they might be
one — completely one — one as He and the
Father are one ; they are far from that,
because they are far from being perfect
Christians ; but in so far as they are Chris-
tians at all, they are to that extent already
one. To be a Christian is to be — through
change of nature, through newness of life
—one with all other Christians. Now I
know scarcely any truth about Christian-
ity which we are more apt to forget, and
which we mere need to remember, than
just this, — that Christian unity already ex-
ists as far as Christianity itself does ; that
we do not need to brirg it into existence,
but that Christ Himself by His work and
spirit brought it into existence ; that any
unity which we are entitled to look i. r ia
the future must be merely a development,
an increase of that which already binds to-
gether Christian men of all denominations
—not something of an essentially different
nature. The great duty of Christians in
this matter, some seem to think, is tu
ignore their diflferences, to conceal them,
or to get rid of them anyhow ; they appear
to find it difficult to understaHd how there
can be a unity coexisting with and under-
lying differences, and wholly distinct
from the uniformity which can only be
gained by the surrender or suppression of
differences. This is a very superficial
view, for it represents Christian unity not
as a living and spiritual thing at all, but as
a mere dead outward form of doctrine or
policy ; it is also a very dangerous view,
for it tends directly to the establishment
of ecclesiastical despotism, the discourage-
ment of the open expression of individual
convictions, and the destruction of faith in
the sacredness and value of truth. To me

it seems that the chief aim and desire of
Christians as to unity ought to be to re-
alize their oneness notwithstanding their
differences ; to estimate at its true worth
what is common to them, as well as what
is denominationally distinctive of them.

Christian unity does not require us to
undervalue any particular truth, or to sur-
render any denominational principle, or
even individual conviction, which is well
founded : it merely requires that our
minds and hearts be open ali^o to what is
common, catholic, universal ; that we do
not allow our denominational differences
and individual peculiarities to prevent us
from tracing and admiring the operations
of the Spirit of grace through the most
dissimilar channels. There maj be Chris-
tian oneness where there are also differ-
ences which no man can rationally count
of slight moment. The differences between
Protectants and Roman Catholics are of
the most serious kind, religiously, morally,
and socially, — yet obviously the feelings
to which St. Bernard gave expression in
the hymn, "Jesus, thou joy of loving
hearts," a ' those which Charles Wesley
poured forth in the hymn, "Jesus, lover of
my soiri," had their source in the same
Holy Spirit, and their object in the same
div" ae Saviour. There is a great distance,
and there are many differences, between
the Roman Catholic Church of France and
the Free Church of Scotland ; but Fenelon
and M'Chey ne were of one Church, the one
true Church, because at one in their spirit-
ual experience. St. Bernard and Pope
Alexander VI., Fenelon and Cardinal
Dubois, were united in the Church of
Rome — who will dare to say that they
were one in Christ ? St. Bernard and
Charles Wesley, Fenelon and M'Cheyne,
were ecclesiastically far apart — who will
dare to say that they were not one in
Christ ? I trust that Protestants will never
think lightly of the differences which sepa-
rate them from the Church of Rome ; and
yet I hesitate not to say that when Protes-
tants in general are clearly able to discern
the oneness even beneath these differences,
and cordially to love whatever is of Christ

mSimff'vMt^Ti

8

and His Holy Spirit, even when it appears
in the Church of Rome, a greater step will
have been taken towards the attainment of
Christian unity than would be by the mere
external union of ail the denominations of
Protestantism.

As to the differences between these deno-
minations, they might surely exist and yet
prove merely the means of exercising and
strengthening Christian unity. If we can
be at one in spirit with those only who
agree with us in opinion, there can be lit-
tle depth or sincerity in such oneness.
The love whieh vanishes before a difference
of views and sentiments, must be of a very
superficial and worthless nature. And, as
a plain matter of fact, it is neither merely
nor mainly the differences of principle or
opinion between the various denomina-
tions of Christians which mar and violate
their Christian unity, but the evil and un-
christian passions which gather round
these differences. The differences are only
the occasions of calling forth these pas-
sions. If they did not exist at all, the same
passions would create or find other differ-
ences, other occasions for displaying them-
selves. It is not when one body of men
holds honestly, openly, and firmly the
Voluntary principle, and another the Es-
tablishment principle, that Christian unity
is broken, but when those who hold the
one principle insinuate that those who
hold the other are, simply in virtue of
doing so, ungodly men, or men who disown
Christ as the life and guide, the Lord and
Head of His people ; when, instead of cor-
dially acknowledging and rejoicing in what
is good in each other, each exaggerates
what is good in himself, and depreciates
what is good in the other, or even rejoices
in his neighbour's humiliation or injury ;
and when those who represent them con-
tend, by speech or writing, in a manner
from which a courteous and honourable
man of the world would recoil ; — it is then
that Christian unity is broken — visibly,
terribly broken — for then the Christian
spirit is manifestly absent, or grievously
feeble.
AH the differences of principle which

separate most of our Christian denomina-
tions might redound to their common
honour, and might reveal rather than con-
ceal their common unity, had their mem-
bers and spokesmen only a little more jus-
tice, generosity, and love— a little more
grace and virtue— a little more of the
spirit of that kingdom which is righteous-
ness, and peace, and joy in the Holy
Ghost. They might set a high value on
their distinctive principles, and yet rejoice
that what they held apart was so small a
portion of the truth in comparison with
what they held in common. It may, per-
haps, be quite reasonable that tor the sake
of one principle as to which they differ,
two denominations shall stand apart, al-
though on a thousand other principles
they are agreed ; but it cannot be reason-
able that their divergence of view as to
the one principle should shut their eyes
and hearts to the fact that on the thousand
others they are agreed. And yet there is,
as all experience proves, a very great dan-
ger of our thus allowing distinctive priiici-
ples to obscure or prevent our recoj^nition
of common principles. It is the penalty
attached to all undue exaltation or glorify-
ing of what distinguishes us from our
Christian brethern. And met as we are as a
General Presbyterian Council, I hope we
shall be on our guard against such a dan.
ger. God forbid that the Presbyterian
Churches of the world should have so littlt
received the spirit or learned the law of
Christ as that they should in any degree
confound Presbyterian unity with Chris-
tian unity — or vainly boast of what is but
an outward form — or say or do anything
to hurt the feelings or the usefulness of
other Churches which are as dear to the
Saviour as themselves, and which are sepa-
rated from them by so thin a partition wall
as a mode of ecclesiastical government.
We have come together as Presbyterians,
but with the wish to promote Christian
unity ; aad the very thought of Christian
unity, if apprehended aright, must save ua
from unduly and offensively magnifying
any secondary unity, any outward distinc-
tion.

f

•i

Ghriatian unity we have seen to be a
Bpiritual anity which linkfi together all
ChristianB, and nnderliee all the differenceR
which diHtinguieh them from one another.
It is a natural and neceBBary conBequence
of this truth that ChriBtian unity, although
it may lead to Buch secondary unities aa
identity of doctrine, or uniformity of ritual,
or onenena of gorernment, ought never to
be identified with them. ChriBtian unity
may be where there are none of these
thinga. It might not be where they all
are. Take doctrine. ChriBtian unity un-
doubtedly involves in its very essence a
oneness of faith, for the Christian life is
one of confidence towards God as a re-
conciled Father in Jesus Christ — a con-
fidence which is gained through belief
in Jesus Christ, while that belief is
gained through assent to what Scrip-
ture testifies of Jesus Christ. This unity
of a living faith naturally finds expres-
Bion in a unity of doctrine or creed. God
and Christ are one, and the testimony
of Scripture regarding Him is a self-con-
sistent whole, and the longer, the more im-
partially, the more freely and honestly,
the more reverently and profoundly that
testimony is studied, the more likely, or, if
you will, the more certainly, is unity even
of doctrine to be the result. And it has
been the result. The harmony of the
Creeds and Confessions, not of Presby-
terianism alone, nor even of Protestantism
alone, but of the whole Christian world, is
most comprehensive. The harmony of the
chief Protestant creeds and confessions ip,
of course, far more so ; it shows us a unity
of doctrine abundantly sufiicient, surely,
for almost every want of practical Christian
life. This unity or harmony was inevitr
able, because no very different system of
doctrines could be evolved out of the
Scriptures by the collective labours of large
masses of men one in spirit, than that
which has been derived from them and
embodied in the creeds of the Churches.

But while all this is true, and Christian
unity thus naturally tends to produce a
doctrinal unity, we must never confound
these two things. A man may err very

widely in creed, and yet have a ein cere be-
lieving «oul. He may greatly misunder-
stand many an iuBtruction of his Lord and
Master, and yet reverence Him far more,
and love Him far better— and therefore,
since love is the fulfilling of the law, much
more truly obey His will — than a wiser
and more instructed brother, whose exe-
gesis of the new Testament is perfect. A
Church may have a faultless creed, to
which all its members unhesitatingly as-
sent, and yet be devoid of Christian unity,
because devoid of Christian faith, of spirit-
ual life. Mere orthodoxy is deadly heresy.
The purely intellectual unity reached
through a purely intellectual assent is no
operation of the Spirit ; but where the
Spirit is not, life is not ; and where life is
not, death is. Life, however, is unity,
and death is dissolution.

Besides, while Christian unity tends to
doctrinal unity, there nay never on earth
be doctrinal identity. Wherever there is
mental activity — free, honest, independtat
enquiry, such as there is wherever there is
either intellectual or spiritual life — re-
search is ever advancing ; and the first re-
sults of advancing research into the mean-
ing of either God's book of nature or Hia
book of revelation are often discordant
and unsatisfactory. There are conflicting
opinions entertained on many questions re-
garding heat, light, and electricity ; there
are rival schools in geology and natural
history ; there is hardly a single subject in
mental, moral, or political science about
which there is not the greatest diversity of
opinion. In all these cases, however, the
continuance of free research will bring
order out of chaos, harmony out of con-
fusion ; yet will the perfect order and har-
mony of nature be discovered and demon-
strated only when science has fully com-
prehended nature, and there is no room
left for fresh research. It is not otherwise
with regard to revelation. We can only
have an absolute harmony of opiiiion as to
the Bible when there are no more new
truths to be derived from it, or new ques-
tions raised concerning it, when its inter-
pretation is perfected, and research re>

S^^^!^^»^ii^S5S»^

10

garding it completed. That will not be, I
believe, before the day of doom. Certainly
it will not be in our day, for never was
Biblical research more actively pushei
forward in all directionB than juet now.
Never, therefore, were the Churches more
bound, while conscientiously guarding old
and assured truths, to beware of dogmat-
ism as to new views, or of trammelling un-
necessarily the advancing research. The
free action of spiritual life in the form of
investigation and criticism when displayed
in fields hitherto little trodden, and in
quest:' ns hitherto little studied by us, may
appart atly produce, or really produce, for
a time, only contradictory and destructive
tceories, — yet in God's good time it will
assuredly b'-ing about unity and peace,
and minister to faith and virtue, as it has
done in fields already traversed and as to
questions row settled

It is thought by some that Christian
unity — unity of spirit — also tends to ritual-
istic uniformity or uniformity of worship.
There, are two grounds on either or both of
which this opinion may be maintained. It
may be argued that there is a divinely ap-
pointed form of worship defined in the
New Testament with sufficient distinct-
ness, and that Christian men will fooner
or lator be all convinced of this, and will,
of course, adopt that form of worship. It
may also be argued that there is an abso-
lutely best form of worship, and that when
the spiritual life of the Church is luffi-
ciently deepened and quickened it must as-
sume that form as alone fully appropriate.
And these two arguments may be com-
bined ; indeed, if there is a divinely-ap-
pointed form of worship it can scarcely be
other than the absolutely beet form of wor-
ship— the one most suitable in all lands,
ages, and circumstances.

I have neither the time nor the desire to
examine these arguments, but certainly I
am unconvinced by either of them. I can-
not see that there is one form of worship
exclusively prescribed by Scripture and
binding in all its regulations on men in all
places and at all times ; or that there is

ne absolutely best form of worship, iden-
tical and unvarying for all men, no matter
what may have been the history, or what
may be the characters or circumstances, of
the worshippers. Hence, although I can
hardly doubt that the ii ore enlightened
and earnest our piety becomes, the less
value will it attach to accessories and im-
posing forms, the more suspicious will it
grow of what is symbolical and artificial,
and the higher will be its appreciation of
those forms of worship which with the
greatest simplicity, naturalness, and direct-
ness, bring the soul into contact with the
realitieo of worship, I can feel no certainty
that there would be uniformity of worbhip
even if there were perfect unity of spirit ;
and I will judge no man's worship by my
own ideal of its form. To his own master
each man standeth or falleth. The unity
of worship, which is all important, is no*,
in its form at all, but in its being in spirit
and in truth. The form is entirely subor-
dinate to the spirit. The true spirit is re-
stricted to no one form, for the Holy Ghost
has condescended to bless and to act
through the most diverse forms. There-
fore, let us not rashly pronounce any of
them common or unclean.

Ritualistic uniformity, then, is not only
not to be identified with Christian unity,
but probably not even to be included in the
idea of Christian unity. The same must
be said of oneness of ecclesiastical govern-
ment or polity. Yet nothing can be more
manifest thaa that, within certain limits
and conditions, Chriptian unity must work
very powerfully towards ecclesiastical one-
ness— towards the up'.on of Churches.
The main reason why not a few Churches
stand apart is unhappily to be sought aad
found not in their principles, but in their
passions. Jealousies, rivalries, recrimina-
tions, assaults upon one another — most
unseemly and improper in themselves, and
most injurious to the Christian cause — are
exhibited, instead of Christian graces or
practices. The strength and energy which
should have been applied to the conversion
and sanctification of the world are far
more than wasted in warring with one an-

L

t ■

\

11

other, in "biting and devouring one an-
other." All this is, of course, the very
opposite of Christian unity, and irust dis-
appear in order that Christian unity may
establish and display itself. Wherever
there is a real ^^"owth of religious life,
there & sense of tho sinfulness of such a
state of things, and the evil which it
causes, must spring up, and the desire for
brotherly communion and co-operation
must be experienced. The spirit of love
and peace, of zeal for the glory of God and
the salvation of man, working from within,
cannot fail gradually to effect many an
ecclesiastical alliance and union ; and in
all such cases there will be a clear ^ain to
Christianity. There may be unions, how-
ever, which have no root in Christian
unity, which are prompted by worldly
motives, and effected from without. These
merit no adn)iration, and are not likelv to
promote the progress of the Kingdom of
Chiist. A true union between Churches
must be rather grown into than directly
striven for. Just as he who would be
happy must not aim straight at happiness,
but must cultivate piety and virtue, so
Churches which seek such a union as God
will bless, will only reach their goal by in-
creasing in love to God and to all man-
kind.

I do not know ihat we are warranted to
affirm with confidence much beyond this
as to ecclesiastical union. There are not
a few who hold that the Church, as the
body of Christ, must become externally,
visibly, organically one. This is the sort
of unity which the Church of Rome has
ever maintained to be an essential "' arac-
teristio. of the true Church. Thus to be
one is the idea' which she has so steadily
striven to realise ; and the ambition of at-
taining that ideal has been the inspiring
cause of most of her crimes. It is a unity,
I am persuaded, which would be pernicious
if it could be attained, but which fortu-
nately cannot be attained ; an ideal which
is a dream — a grandiose dream — and also
a diseased dream ; an ambition which is
foolish, if not guilty. The notion of a uni-
yereal Church in this sense is precisely

the same delusion in religion as the notion
of a universal monarchy or a universal
republic in politics. Human hands are
utterly incompetent to hold and gu de
aright the reins of universal s./ay, either
in religious or in civil matters. A universal
Church would be as surely a misgoverned
Church, as a universal empire would be a
misgoverned empire.

Before we can even affiim with ra-
tional confidence that all Churches will
come to have the same kind of govern-
ment, not to speak of the same govern-
ment, we must have convinced ourselves
that there is one kind of Church Govern-
ment which is alone of Divine origin and
authority. This is not now the prevalent
view, perhaps, in Protestant Churches.
Most Presbyterians probably, while claim-
ing for Presbytery that it is "founded on
the Word of God and agreeable thereto,"
will not deny that the same may be said
of other forms of Church Government, in
so far as they contribute to the diffusion
and application of the pure and saving
truths of the Gospel, and to the gathering
and perfecting of the saints. The unity of
the Church, the unity of believers, cannot,
it seems to me, be bound up with any one
kind of government. It is a unity not to
be sought for elsewhere than in the love of
God the Father, in the faith of Christ, the
work of the Holy Spirit and in the hearts of
believers.

There are many truths in my text still
unnoticed, but I will only mention the one
which is most prominent — and I will do no
more than mention it. The oneness of
Christians is not simply described as a
blessing to themselves, but as what would
be a blessing also to the world. If Chris-
tians sincerely and fervently loved one an-
other, and loved the Father and the Son,
and showed by their whole conduct how
precious, how joyous, how divine a thing
Christian love was, the world could not but
be influenced by the sight ; the love of
Christ's disciples towards one another
w©uld guide it to th« love of Christ Him-
self : and the love of Christ, to the love oi
the Father ; and so the <forld would be-

12

lieve that God really had aent His Son ;
would cease to be the world, and would
joy and glory in its Redeemer. If those
who call themselves Christians were all
really so ; if they were one in Christ and
strove to be perfectly one ; if, amidHt all
differences and distinctions, they had
a profound affection for one another ; if
their very controversies were models of
courtesy, and their very disputings ex-
amples of meekness and humility ; if
brotherly communion, even with those
widest apart from them ecclesiastical-
ly, were earnestly sought by them, and
brotherly co-operation habitual to them,
the effect on society would soon be very
visible. The sarcasm of the unbeliever
would be silenced ; the native loveli-
ness of the Gospel would be made mani-
fest ; and Christians, thus one in heart
and life, in affection and action, would

come, with a moral might unknown by
the world for ages, to the help of the Lord
against the mighty.

"Nothing," said one of the greatest of
English philosophers, "doth so much keep
men out of the Church, and drive men
out of the Church, as breach of unity."
" Keep your smaller differences," was
the exhortation of the Reformer of Ge-
neva; "let us have no discord on that
account ; but let us march in one solid
column, under the banners of the Captain
of our Salvation, and with undivided coun-
sels, from the legions of the Cross upon
the territories of darkness and of death."

Now, unto Him that is able to do ex-
ceeding abundantly above all that we ask
or think, according to the power that work-
eth in us, unto Him be glory in the Church
by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world
without end I Amen.

-^y